Specialized labor and delivery care in Austin and Central Texas

St. David's HealthCare is the area's leader in childbirth services. Our family-focused approach to care provides mothers, babies and families with a comfortable and safe birth experience. With facilities featuring newborn nurseries and neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), we are able to offer the most advanced levels of care for your child.

For more information about our labor and delivery services, please call St. David's Help Center at (888) 868-2104.

Maternity and newborn care

We offer a complete range of maternity and newborn services, including educational courses (on site and online) and maternity tours. Additionally, our beautifully designed labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms offer access to advanced perinatal care when needed.

Our spacious rooms provide a soothing and homelike environment. All rooms feature the latest birth technology, and if a cesarean birth becomes necessary, our fully equipped C-section suites are conveniently located to provide immediate, seamless care. For non-emergency C-sections, we encourage the father, partner or support person to attend.

If you are currently expecting and want to see our birth center, you can register for a tour online.

Antepartum room visitation policies

In our antepartum (before birth) unit, visiting hours are unlimited for a patient's spouse/significant other and close family and friends. The number of visitors present in the room is up to the patient. However, for special situations and procedures, your doctor may choose to limit the number of people who are with you. We also ask that your family and friends do not visit if they are ill.

Postpartum support

Following your baby's birth, we encourage family time. Our postpartum care rooms provide the privacy you need to enhance bonding with your new baby. Postpartum rooms also feature a sleeping space for the father, partner or support person. Our team also provides breastfeeding support, expert care and additional education, as needed.

Advanced neonatal resources and care

Although our desire is for everyone to have a healthy baby, we know babies occasionally need special medical care. For these cases, we offer additional resources and services, such as:

Baby Matters program

To help you make an informed decision regarding your child's care, we offer the Baby Matters nurse navigator program. After your referral to this program, our nurse navigator connects with you and your family to coordinate a personalized visit of our maternity areas and NICUs. They also coordinate an in-person consultation with one of our neonatologists to discuss care and expectations.

We want to familiarize you with our facility as well as dispel fears, encourage informed decision-making and increase your understanding of the NICU. We will do all of this while guiding you through this unique and often overwhelming experience.

For more information about our Baby Matters program, please call (512) 544-5189.

Neonatal surgery

If it is determined that neonatal surgery is necessary for your baby, our nurse navigators at St. David's Medical Center can partner with your obstetrician and maternal fetal medicine physician to deliver expert care of you and your baby.

NICU

St. David's HealthCare NICUs provide advanced technology and an expert staff consisting of neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, neonatal nurses and other specialty experts. All our hospitals also have the ability to transport patients to a higher level NICU, if needed.

Additionally, our family rooms are places of care and comfort for families with children in the NICU. These rooms provide convenient and healing places to rest close to your child.

Neonatal and maternal transport team

Transport teams are on-call 24/7 to transport patients via air or ambulance. We receive mothers and high-risk babies from around the state who benefit from a multidisciplinary team of experts. This team includes board-certified maternal-fetal medicine specialists, obstetricians, cardiologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, pediatric surgeons and nephrologists.

Maternity and childbirth education classes

The key to confidence in parenting is education and preparation. To help with this, we offer parent education classes that provide answers to your questions about childbirth, newborn care, breastfeeding, C-sections and other topics.

Expectant parents may take classes at any of our locations, regardless of where they plan to deliver. We host our childbirth education classes at St. David's Medical Center, St. David's North Austin Medical Center and St. David's South Austin Medical Center. We offer:

We also provide the opportunity to bundle classes together for a lower price. To find out more or register, please call (512) 544-4226.

Lamaze classes

We offer a course on the Lamaze technique, in which we focus on relaxation methods and controlled breathing patterns to help manage pain. Our instructors teach distraction methods, such as focusing on a photo or having a massage from your partner.

All-natural childbirth classes

We also teach classes to support an all-natural approach to birth. These classes stress the avoidance of medications unless absolutely necessary. This method also calls for an active role for the baby's father or support person as a "birth coach." Along with good nutrition and exercise, these classes teach relaxation and deep-breathing techniques to cope with labor pains.